California had 98,759 certified H-1B LCA filings in FY2025, ranking #1 among all states and territories, with an average offered wage of $161,030. Figures below are computed directly from DOL LCA disclosure records, not estimated.
98,759
Certified H-1B LCA filings, FY2025, #1 nationally
$161,030
Average offered wage, FY2025
437,030
Total certified filings tracked, FY2021–2026
Every H1B employer must file a Labor Condition Application (LCA) certified by the DOL Office of Foreign Labor Certification before USCIS can approve an H1B petition. The figures on this page are aggregated directly from those disclosure records for worksites in California.
Ranked by certified LCA filing volume for worksites in California. Source: DOL LCA disclosure data.
| # | Company | City | Industry | Filings | Avg Wage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Google LLC | Mountain View | Computer Systems Design and Related Services | 5,533 | $192,964 |
| 2 | Apple Inc. | Cupertino | Computer and Peripheral Equipment Manufacturing | 5,213 | $181,836 |
| 3 | Meta Platforms, Inc | Menlo Park | , | 3,451 | $209,058 |
| 4 | Amazon.com Services LLC | Sunnyvale | Electronic Shopping and Mail-Order Houses | 2,623 | $178,779 |
| 5 | Tesla, Inc. | Fremont | Motor Vehicle Manufacturing | 1,723 | $162,786 |
| 6 | Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. | San Diego | Communications Equipment Manufacturing | 1,585 | $145,095 |
| 7 | Ernst & Young U.S. LLP | San Francisco | Accounting, Tax Preparation, Bookkeeping, and Payroll Services | 1,388 | $153,126 |
| 8 | WAL-MART ASSOCIATES, INC. | Sunnyvale | , | 1,339 | $148,677 |
| 9 | NVIDIA Corporation | Santa Clara | Computer and Peripheral Equipment Manufacturing | 1,322 | $193,159 |
| 10 | Microsoft Corporation | Mountain View | , | 970 | $195,552 |
| 11 | Adobe Inc. | San Jose | Computer Systems Design and Related Services | 820 | $192,747 |
| 12 | Salesforce, Inc. | San Francisco | Computer Systems Design and Related Services | 791 | $225,108 |
| 13 | ByteDance Inc. | San Jose | , | 744 | $220,874 |
| 14 | LinkedIn Corporation | Sunnyvale | Data Processing, Hosting, and Related Services | 727 | $183,808 |
| 15 | COGNIZANT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS US CORP | Pleasanton | Computer Systems Design and Related Services | 709 | $130,318 |
10,421 certified filings in FY2025.
Top sponsors: Salesforce, Inc., Ernst & Young U.S. LLP, Google LLC
9,577 certified filings in FY2025.
Top sponsors: ByteDance Inc., Adobe Inc., PayPal, Inc.
9,051 certified filings in FY2025.
Top sponsors: Google LLC, Apple Inc., Amazon.com Services LLC
6,809 certified filings in FY2025.
Top sponsors: NVIDIA Corporation, Palo Alto Networks, Inc., ServiceNow, Inc.
5,816 certified filings in FY2025.
Top sponsors: Google LLC, Microsoft Corporation, Intuit Inc.
27,597 certified filings · average wage $163,703.
7,880 certified filings · average wage $179,460.
3,680 certified filings · average wage $157,413.
3,493 certified filings · average wage $161,970.
3,241 certified filings · average wage $180,655.
Percentiles computed directly from certified LCA filings with a worksite in California. This reflects the actual spread of offered wages on file, not an official DOL prevailing-wage tier.
| Percentile | Offered Wage |
|---|---|
| 25th percentile | $121,118 |
| Median (50th percentile) | $156,853 |
| 75th percentile | $194,838 |
| 90th percentile | $228,000 |
The Department of Labor's Foreign Labor Certification data center publishes every LCA filing. Filter by state ("CA"), SOC code for your occupation, and fiscal year. Employers with repeated certified filings in your target SOC code have active, recurring H1B programs, these are your tier-1 targets.
USCIS publishes fiscal-year approval and denial data for every employer by state. Cross-reference California employers with the highest approval counts against your target role.
Universities and nonprofit research institutions headquartered in California are cap-exempt under 8 USC 1184(g)(5) and can file H1B petitions any time of year without entering the lottery.
The top sponsors listed above receive large volumes of applications through job boards. Their direct career portals are often less crowded and let you filter by California location.
Referrals meaningfully increase interview rates at established H1B sponsors. Look for local immigrant-professional meetups and university alumni networks in California.
Cap-exempt employers are among the most powerful H1B opportunities in California because they can file petitions throughout the year without lottery risk. Under federal regulation, institutions of higher education, their affiliated nonprofit entities, nonprofit research organizations, and governmental research organizations qualify for cap exemption regardless of which state they're in. If you're a researcher, academic, or healthcare professional, universities and teaching hospitals headquartered in California are worth targeting directly on their own career pages.
Important: Cap-exempt H1B workers changing to a cap-subject employer must enter the lottery. Conversely, a cap-subject worker moving to a cap-exempt employer can file immediately. Verify status with an immigration attorney before making a job change.
Browse H1B-sponsored positions at California's leading employers, backed by real DOL filing data.
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Aggregated from DOL LCA disclosure files (FY2021–2026) for filings with a worksite in California, filtered to certified petitions with annual wages between $30K and $1M. Employer legal-entity spelling variants are grouped before counting.